Repetition before Intuition
by Daniella Flame
Summary: Anna Blueflame has had a rough life, and when she finally gets a chance to live in Wizard City, something seems off. Not everyone is on the same page as her and she is very suspicious about the people around her. As she digs into the mystery, her friends turn on her and ban her from being herself. When she tries to find out whats going on, she ends up exactly where she wants to be.


It wasn't my preferred way of waking up, but most of my dorm room was on fire.

My best friend Anniana thought it would be funny to get me a fire-cat to celebrate my achieving of level five in Lydia Greyrose's Ice Magic class. As soon as I had gotten to my room via teleportation, I tried to dunk the thing in ice cold water. That just ended up in the fire-safety spell to kick in and for me to get a stern scolding from the tower's dean.

So then I tried locking the fireball in place on the ceiling with a frozen spell, seeming to forget about the fact that it was a _fire_-cat for a reason. Then when I woke up, I found most of my spell cards were charred up and my closet was mostly on fire. It could have been a lot worse; my replenishing spells fixed most of the damage. Speaking of which, the spells were supposed to be for my poor wilting lion-flowers, but I guess I could just buy some more from the commons' merchant. What was his name again? Darco? Drakesten? When I first met him, I thought he was from Wysteria with such an odd name.

I lazily opened one eye to stare at the evil little fireball that was destroying most of my nicest robes and boots. Flicking my fingers to throw some snowballs at him seemed to get him to stop jumping around aimlessly. My classes weren't due to start until midday and I had some shopping to do beforehand, so I decided to take the fire-cat with me. It was already trained when Anniana gave it to me, so all I had to do was cast a quick bonding spell on it and it was mine. I call it an 'it' because I'm not sure if it's a girl or a boy, or if fire-cats even had genders at all. Animal Sciences wasn't my best class.

The first thing I wanted to do was to buy a name tag for the fireball and get some fire-resistant spell cards before I bought some crafting recipes I wanted to try. Making a mental list in my head, I got up and picked out one of the robes that hadn't caught fire. The fire-cat was doing some weird dance so I glanced over to see my Firestorm Vestment hadn't caught on fire and it was currently in the cat's mouth. Huh, guess fire enchanted clothes don't catch on fire. I mentally noted that for future reference.

Upon picking it up, I tried to remember how I had gotten such a dull robe that wasn't even for my major. Maybe it was a quest on Unicorn Way that I remembered as fairly easy and boring. Or maybe it was that time I defeated four Scarlet Screamers on my own on Triton Avenue. Either way it was sturdy enough for spring's rainy weather and I looked good in light brown and blue anyways.

I turned to my mirror and checked my hair, blue as always, and cast a chilling spell to put bits of frost in it; my usual hairstyle. Liking the way my dark skin went with my icy blue hair, I grabbed my ditty bag off the counter.

The bag was filled with about two hundred small gold coins that served as currency, and looked like it was worth a ton more than it actually was. The coins were tiny, about the size of small pebbles and didn't really look like coins at all. Two hundred coins could hardly buy you anything. Unless you knew where to shop, you could go bankrupt from buying food.

In the time it took me to ponder the crappy economy we had in Wizard City, my fireball was waiting by the door sending sparks bouncing about by tapping its tail expectantly.

"Not everyone can walk around naked like you can, cat. Gimme a second…" I muttered to the fire-cat, trying to remember where I left my boots and my favourite wand.

"I'm not naked," I jumped out of my skin and turned around as the cat continued, "I've got my fur and fire to keep me warm." The cat held up its head as if constantly being on fire made him better than me. I blinked and tried not to look like a kraken in the woods.

"Um…" What are you even supposed to say to a talking fire-cat? I seriously needed to pay more attention in Animal Sciences. "You can… talk?"

"Of course." The cat looked quizzically at me. "Have you ever cast a bonding spell before?"

"…And you know about bonding spells." It was more of a statement than a question. I pretended to act nonchalantly about an intelligent, talking cat as I moved to my bedside and found a pair of leather boots on the floor. Picking them up, a slip of paper materialized in mid-air as soon as the boots were in my hands. I snatched it with amazing reflexes I didn't think I'd have this early in the morning and set my boots down on the night stand. _'Anna Blueflame,'_ Gamma's shaky voice read aloud, _'Please pick up your potion vials from Hilda Brewer for this month's dosage. Thank you and have a splendid day! Sincerely, Gamma.'_ Oh, right; my potions.

You see, according to Mr Lincoln, the headmaster's right hand man, I have a 'condition.' My condition being that I'm too curious and I have a tendency to put myself in dangerous situations, which is a load of fairy dust because they only started giving me the potions once they found me fighting off bosses way above my level. They still haven't figured out how I managed to get into restricted areas. Having trustworthy friends pays off. It also has something to do with my creativity, because once I figured out how spells were first made, I was able to create some of my own.

It's not cheating, I swear. Just… advances magical studies.

Thinking about magical studies, it brought up bad memories of my acceptance performance for my classes and the days before Wizard City. Before I got accepted into Ravenwood, I felt really out of place everywhere I went. I couldn't cast anything more than a few sparks or some ribbons, and that was on a good day and with a stick for a wand. Before I got accepted, I was living off the small money I earned from cleaning up the streets and buildings of Marleybone. One of the only good things that came from Marleybone was Alexandria Winterbane.

Alexa had matted black hair that was always in a short ponytail, sickly pale skin, and brilliant violet eyes. Her pointed nose and oval-ish face looked so similar to mine; you would have thought we were related if it weren't for the stark contrast between our skin colours. She was my very first and best friend I've ever had.

Alexa was poor, just like me, but she had it worse off. Where I had a somewhat caring older brother to put a roof over my head and the gangs off my back, Alexa had no one. Well, not exactly no one; she had a baby sister she had to take care of and feed. I couldn't imagine having to split my small income to take care of two, but Alexa did it without complaint. She and her sister had a small run down shack in between two large buildings that was away from prying eyes and angry drunks.

When I got into a nasty bet that I ended up winning, I got a chance to leave my abusive home and move to Wizard City to study at Ravenwood. Alexa was so proud of me and said she would help me prepare for the acceptance performance every day. Since the performance demanded that the wizard cast their best treasure card to be accepted, I saved up some side money to buy a card. Alexa insisted she help out and gave me all of her personal food money for a week, but I didn't agree to it unless I knew her little sister was being well fed.

Only a month before the performance, I had enough money to buy a rank-one treasure card. At the time I bought the card, I had no idea what ranked as a good spell, seeing as I had never been into any duels or matches. So I thought a rank one would for sure be a good enough spell to get me accepted. So guess what I bought? A frost beetle. That's right, an average frost beetle that everyone has had in their deck over a hundred thousand times.

When the date of the performance came closer and closer, I practised that spell all day; I would even lose sleep trying to perfect my aim and incantation. My brother called me stupid for even thinking I had a chance, but Alexa helped me pull through after failed attempt and failed attempt. A day and a half before, I finally got the spell to work, albeit it was shaky and flickered on and off most of the time. I was so happy, and my brother didn't comment.

The day of the performance came out of nowhere, and I felt even less prepared with each passing minute. Alexa walked me to the centre of Regent's Square, which had temporarily been vacated of all shops and kiosks and transformed into a duelling dais with a podium next to it. I felt sick to my stomach.

Not many people were interested in becoming a wizard when they came from Marleybone, so that set me up to going first to demonstrate my 'talent'. Standing up there, with Mr Lincoln and Merle Ambrose watching sceptically with a small crowd of fifty, I nearly passed out. But Alexa standing right in front, watching me with a smile on her face and her little sister in her arms gave me hope. Taking a deep breath, I began to cast the spell.

When Mr Lincoln saw what I was casting, he outright guffawed. The headmaster had an amused sparkle in his eye but remained watchful. After casting the spell I gave my small speech and left the stage. Alexa hugged me and said I was sure to do better than anyone else in the competition. Her thoughts changed, however, when we saw the other competitors do their spells.

Magic was buzzing in the air and creatures I had never heard of sprang from other wizard's wands as if they had been waiting there all day, ready to pounce. I hung my head low in embarrassment; all of the other competitors had spells that ranked somewhere from four to six, while mine was a weak ranking of one.

In the end, Ambrose chose a male life wizard who had cast a centaur and… me.

I couldn't believe my luck, I thanked him profusely and made impossible promises about my grades when he held up his hand and said something that gave me hope. He said he didn't chose wizards by the spell, but more on how they cast it. Ambrose continued to say that he did need improvement in my spells, and promised to give me a full seven class ride if I could cast a more impressive spell for him during next semester's enrolments. I gave a tearful nod and accepted the celestial tickets that would take me to Wizard City next week. I went over to Alexa and promised her that I would send over as much money I could to help her and I'd try to learn a few maid spells to help her with conjuring food and keeping her sister healthy and happy.

Little did I know, only half a year after I left, all that I had done for her would go to loss. It was a rainy day, and my classes were going fantastic. I had the day off and I was planning on going down Triton Avenue later to fight a bit with a few of my new friends. The scroll materialized before my eyes just as I was deciding on what spell deck I should use. Mayor Pimsbury's voice read the letter aloud, as most letters do around here. The first sentence shocked me, and the next stopped every thought in my head.

'_Dear Ms Blueflame, September Eighteenth  
It has come to our attention that you were acquaintances with Alexandria Winterbane. Ms Winterbane has passed away from starvation and we give out our deepest condolences. In her will, she left you a small sum of gold along with a few housekeeping spells. Ms Winterbane has also left you a single treasure card and the guardianship of Hannah Winterbane, Alexandria's younger sister. Send a parcel stating your response and a sum of gold to send Hannah Winterbane to your current residence. If you do not reply within thirty days, Hannah Winterbane, aged two and a half, will be sent to one of our orphanages and cared for by Wizardry staff. Thank you for your time and consideration of the ownership of Hannah. _

_Wishing you well,_

_ Mayor Pimsbury of Marleybone'_

To say I was mad was a huge understatement. _'Ownership'?!_ Who did they thing they are! I cancelled my plans with my friends via letter, and paced around my room wondering what to do next.

In the end I saw it best to have Hannah come here, but I was still going to school as a Wizard and had no time to take care of a toddler. It was no easy task trying to find someone to take care of a child from Marleybone, as Wizards often thought everyone from Marleybone was a no good thug or criminal. The merchants, on the other hand, know exactly what it's really like in Marleybone, and I was good friends with Eudora Tangletree, the crafting merchant in Olde Town. She accepted the care for Hannah as long as I paid her thickly for her services. And thickly did I pay; I hardly had enough money left over to pay rent. So I sold most of my possessions and moved into the Ravenwood dorms. Even then, the cost of living went up, and my salary went down, so I had no choice but to battle monsters all over Wizard City to keep myself and Hannah afloat.

A loud cough interrupted my complicated and muddled thoughts as I realized I was still standing in my dorm room on March fifth. It had been five and a half months since Alexa died, but it felt like several decades. I glanced up to see my fire-cat staring at me with cautious concern.

"Are you alright?" It was then I realized what had really triggered my Marleybone memories; that voice.

"I'm sorry but, where did you get that accent?" I asked the cat. Its eyebrows shot up.

"Have you really never cast a bonding spell before?" He didn't give me time to reply as he continued, "When a wizard casts a bonding spell on something that can't talk, the thing can only mentally talk with its owner or partner, and that voice is whatever the owner, or partner, wants it to me."

I nodded like I had simply forgotten but the cat seemed to smirk at me. "That also means I can hear everything you think, and you can hear me." Nodding slower than before, I hoped I looked more intelligent than I felt. The cat shook its head and tried re-explaining it. "That means _everything_." Oh. "Yeah, _oh._"

"So, since we're about to go get you a name, are you a girl or a boy?" I sat down on the edge of my bed and tried to act like I wasn't talking to a cat.

The cat in question chuckled and said, "Does it even matter?" I blinked, confused. "Do I have to be a girl or a boy? Why can't I be whatever I want?" I shrugged, dumbfound. "Just pick something non-gender specific."

"Uh, okay." That meant something that wasn't a girl name_ or_ a boy name… right? Hum, fireball seemed like a cute name. "D'you like the name Fireball?"

The cat pondered it and nodded with such seriousness I had to stifle a giggle. I actually did giggle when Fireball responded with, "Yes I supposed that would suffice." Cats are _weird._ I'm more of a snake or dragon person. "I heard that," Fireball said as they walked towards the door. "Are we going to sit around here all day or what?" Oh, one of those _active pets_, just great. The cat turned and glared at me with a fiery intensity, no pun intended, and said sternly, "Anna Blueflame, if we don't leave right now I'm going to set off the fire-safety spell _again_."

With that I hopped off the bed and grabbed the wand that lay on a shelf next to the door. "Alrighty then Bossy McFurball, off we go." I opened the door and set a warp to take us to the Commons. As I shut the door behind me I had a sinking feeling that this would be the last normal day I would have for a while.


End file.
